STATE OF ATIAK TO NIMULE ROAD CAUSES BIG PROBLEMS FOR TRAFFIC TO SOUTH SUDAN
(Posted 13th November 2013)
Appalling road conditions following extended torrential rains have damaged and in part flooded sections of the Uganda to South Sudan highway in particular along the stretch between Atiak in Uganda and Nimule in South Sudan. Trucks are reportedly piling up some 30 kilometres towards the main town of Gulu in Northern Uganda and only a fraction of the usual traffic appears to be crossing the border right now, leaving South Sudan’s import needs short of supplies and already leading to price rises in South Sudan. It is estimated that at least three quarters of all imports into South Sudan arrive by road via the border post of Nimule between Uganda and South Sudan, with the road forming the biggest bottleneck so far for trade between the two countrier.
Busses carrying travellers from both directions too are said to be taking a lot longer to reach their destinations, leaving the only certain way of swift travel between Uganda and South Sudan to the daily connections by air, offered by Air Uganda’s two daily flights and the flights of South Supreme Airlines which only recently started operations out of Juba. A source close to Air Uganda has confirmed that demand for air travel between Entebbe and Juba remains high, perhaps reflecting the situation encountered by busses plying the route by the road.
